The Road to Roswell

The Road to Roswell / Connie Willis
NY: Del Rey,c2023
399 p.

Another mad romp from Connie Willis! For a light-hearted, humorous tale with some kind of paranormal phenomenon and a very g-rated romance, you can't go wrong with Willis. I was pleased to finally get my hands on this new book, this time centred around aliens (obviously!) 

Francie is heading to Roswell for her college roommate's wedding; she's a bit of a flake and is marrying a UFO fanatic. But Francie will support her, even while being extremely sceptical of all this alien fixation. Getting to Roswell during a UFO Festival is a bit chaotic, and even before they can get the wedding rehearsal started the groom runs off with friends to investigate a reported UFO crash. Francie heads off to get some wedding supplies from the car, while the entire town empties out in search of the UFO...and she is abducted by an alien. 

This alien is like nothing she might have expected, if she had believed in aliens. It looks like a tumbleweed, with strong and fast tentacles, and it grips her tight to the car seat and makes her drive out into the country, clearly in search of something. As they go, they pick up a few more abductees -- a con man hitchhiker named Wade, a sweet little old lady named Eula Mae, an RV owner with a passion for Western films, and a true believer who is constantly coming up with new conspiracies to explain all this. 

It's a combo of romantic comedy, alien encounter, road trip and FBI drama. It's funny, sweet and original. I really enjoyed it, even though the driving around in the middle sags a wee bit -- the characters were entertaining and kept it rolling. I'm not sure I like the ending, though. Leave off the last couple pages and this book was perfect. So much fun! 

The Rule of Luck

The Rule of Luck / Catherine Cerveny
New York: Orbit, 2017, c2016.
391 p.

I saw this book on the new arrivals shelf at work and was intrigued. It looked like an unusual science fictiony read, set in 2950, by which time much of the Earth has been covered in water & there are settlements on Mars and Venus for people to try to get to. One of the important surviving cities is Nairobi; this is where we find our main character, Felicia Sevigny.

Felicia is a tarot reader, still a career in this future world. She works in a little shop with two others, but on this particular day is heading out for an appointment to try to get her fertility ban lifted -- when in walks a tall, dark & handsome stranger. Very handsome -- so much so that she's sure he's had every genetic mod possible.

This is the world they live in; technology is everywhere. Most people are linked into the net biologically, able to scan info immediately about everyone they meet. Felicia, however, comes from a family who is opposed to this kind of intrusive tech, so she's an anomaly, someone who can't be so easily traced. And that's one reason why this powerful stranger has tracked her down.

The stranger is Alexei Petriv, one of the leaders of a Russian crime syndicate who wants nothing more than to overthrow One Government and take its place. They have good reasons to get Felicia involved in their quest, and her instant attraction to Alexei makes this easier.

But this is where the book falls down for me. Perhaps it's just the timing, but having a secret syndicate of Russians trying to take over the world government seems a little awkward as a plot device right now.

And while I assumed from the design of this book and the cover blurb that I was going to be reading a futuristic thriller with a bit of romance, it is very much in the style of an urban fantasy/paranormal romance with a touch of thriller. The sex lasts for pages, is lavishly described and occurs with great frequency. Not that I don't like reading romances, but I prefer to pick them up on purpose, when I'm intending to do so.

There are some fun parts to this book; it starts out really strong with a good hook. But too much time wasted on the relationship between Alexei and Felicia for me -- the plot is forgotten while they explore one another. The intriguing bits -- the setting, the tarot element -- get a bit lost. I'll most likely still read the second book when I can get it, as I'd like to see what happens next once Felicia heads off world. If you are looking for a steamy romance with a futuristic setting, this is a good bet. On my 3 Chilis heat scale, this one reads a definite 2.5.